Looking for two or four nice speakers.

[MillburyAuditorium]

Hello everyone,

Another thing on our to do list is to replace our speakers. While the theater was being built, we ordered nice new state of the art surround sound speakers, well what do you know, the contractor runs off with them. So we take two Peavy's we found cheap and two of the stadium speakers. They sound completely different most of the time, being different brand and size and what not, and one is half blown.
So, we aren't looking to replace the system, just the speakers. Way to much money and time to run new wiring and what not, and pretty hard to get them on the wall, being cement.
We only have one 500 watt amp for all the speakers (I do not know how it works but it does and we can get it pretty loud.) And we have a mono system (Ugh.).

Any advice on brands or specific models would be great

 

[waynehoskins]

While I don't have enough information to even begin to design a loudspeaker system that's right for the space (or even OK for the space), you asked about brands, so here goes. Most of the major players have a moderately standard set of options -- two and three-way trap boxes, line arrays, short-throws, and so on -- so it's likely that any of them will have something that's suitable.

The names that first come to mind are EAW, Renkus, McCauley, and EV. Meyer is fabulous, but I'm pretty sure there's no way they are in your budget. L'acoustics V-DOSC are a very nice line array, but also out of your price range -- and not sure if a line array is even right.

Unfortunately, the signal processing, amplification, and loudspeakers must be designed and installed as a complete system that is designed specifically for the space and application. If you have only a single 500-watt amplifier (please tell us which one, as power ratings as printed on the four-color glossies are meaningless) -- well, a single "500-watt" amplifier, regardless of specifics, is going to be a significantly limiting factor, not so much necessarily in terms of power but of amplifier channels. A proper installed system in even a small space really needs separate processing and amplification of multiple frequency ranges, coverage areas, etc. This deserves greater explanation, which I'll leave to Brad and the others who typically write that part.

What was originally specified for the space?

 

[rwhealey]

EV (Electro-Voice) has a new like of reasonably priced installation speakers, but they're not the kind of thing you just throw together.

I would argue that while you can probably make something workable by going to guitar center and buying a couple of speakers, it won't be worth it compared to what you have now. You can spend half a million on the newest line array and still have it sound like crap if the processor settings are wrong.

To get the most value out of your speakers, you need to hire a consultant to come out and build a CAD model of your space, recommend aiming, and set processor settings.

Where are you located again?

PS: If these are going to be suspended, talk to a rigger before hanging them!

PPS: Don't feel like we're trying to pick on you. I had the same problem in high school- it was new speaker time. I talked them into hiring a consultant (which should happen sometime soon...)! I could fix almost anything wrong with that system. New speakers/processor settings were over my head.

 

[waynehoskins]

And anything you get at Guitar Center, at least most of it, won't be flyable, which I'm presuming is what you need. All the low-end stuff (MI) that I can think of is groundstack-only, which means that you can't fly it since the enclosure isn't designed to be suspended from its upper structure.

I agree, what you really want is a professional to come in, one or more of them, in some combination of consult-design-install. There are some one-stop shops (some phenomenal like Docktr Dave, some on the other end of the spectrum), and then there are folks who only consult and others who only install something that somebody else drew up from somebody else's consultation.

The more local your pros are, the better, generally. A local consultant can drive in from the next city, while one on the other side of the country will have to fly in and out, costing you money and potentially having more time constraints. Not that you can't (or shouldn't) have a cross-country firm do it, but if you can get the same quality and reputation locally, there's a big advantage there.

 

[FMEng]

There has to be more to the story. Contractors don't just run off with stuff, unless there is some kind of dispute going on. Maybe they were not payed, or they were and didn't deliver according to the contract. Or a general contractor screwed a subcontractor. There should be legal action involved here.

One way or another, there should either be a functioning system, or money available to have one properly installed.

 

[SHARYNF]

I think getting more information on just what was

"nice new state of the art surround sound speakers"

might help a bit

Sharyn

 

[museav]

Agreed, any input would help. Size, output, pattern, mounting, budget and so on, there have to be some criteria that would help narrow it down.